Computing systems are currently in wide use. Some computing systems are deployed in data centers which can include thousands (or more) of individual computers or machines. The machines in such data centers often run computing systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. Other computing systems can host services for tenants in a multi-tenant environment.
In these and other types of computing systems, it is not uncommon for the computing systems and the machines, themselves, to be maintained by maintenance computing systems that are remotely located. The maintenance computing systems often access the servers that are hosting services, or the machines in a data center, to perform maintenance operations, to debug those computing systems, and to perform other operations.
When the server or machine being maintained has a working operating system, the operating system often runs services that expose interfaces that can be accessed by the maintenance computing system to perform maintenance and debugging operations. However, server machines often have a variety of hardware, firmware, disk, and operating system problems which can prevent them from functioning correctly. Similarly, new machines that are delivered to a data center may not have a pre-loaded operating system.
When an operating system on a machine is not functional, or is not accessible (such as when a disk controller is not functioning properly), then it can be difficult to remotely debug the servers or machines, because many debugging tools can only be executed on an operating system on the machine or server under test.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.